Tim’s Friday the 13th: Random Acts of Kindness

 On the way back from Raleigh, I wanted to stop at the Tanger Outlet stores in Mebane, NC, since I hadn’t been there yet.   After doing a little shopping in the Bass store we wondered down the way and we came to the Nike store, I said to Tim, “Let’s go in and see if we can’t find you a new pair of high tops,”  since his current ones were a little small and uncomfortable for him.

Now Tim has been a HUGE Duke fan since the days of Christian Laettner, Grant Hill and Bobby Hurley when Tim was only 4 years old!!!  So we browsed the racks of Duke clothing before we reached the athletic shoes.  We looked at all the white and Duke Blue Nike high tops and we picked a pair to try on him.  They looked great and he said they felt comfortable.  I left them on him, and was gathering my purse and the empty box to take up front to purchase, when along came a rather tall man and he looks at Tim sitting in his wheelchair wearing a Duke #1 jersey and the Duke Blue and white Nike high tops on and starts shaking his head and teasing Tim saying, “Nice shoes, but wrong color.”  And I said to the man, “ I suppose you think he should get this color blue” and pointed to a pair of Carolina Blue shoes on the end display.”  And he said, “ yeah you need that color blue!”   And Tim just laughs and smiles ear to ear because he’s so use to this kind of bantering and always gets a charge out of it!   By this time a little group of customers and sales associates were standing  around us observing this teasing that is going on with Tim.

But then, the man says, “hey I’ll buy them if I can get you to wear that color blue!”  Whoah!  Now we’re getting serious here!   He asked me what size shoe Tim wore and I said 10.5   The onlookers, Tim and I were amazed and surprised and we all just stood there.   Then the man asked one of the sales associates, if she’d check and see if they had that shoe in a 10.5 and she does and comes out with a box in her hands.  Then the man asks Tim again if he’d wear them if he bought them for him, and Tim smiles and says yeah!  So the man asked the sales associate to take them up front and put them on his bill!

When  the crowd disburses and I’m left with Tim and these Duke blue and white Nikes on his feet, I asked Tim if he still wanted me to buy them for him, or take them off and put them back on the shelf.  He had a hard time deciding but finally confirmed he just wanted the Carolina blue Air Jordans that the man was buying for him!   And then the man comes walking back to us and puts the box in Tim’s lap and we thank him for his generosity!  

I’m always amazed and tongue tied at the acts of random kindness we experience at times when we’re in the community.  Tim is 27 and has severe Cerebral Palsy.  He’s trapped in his body physically and he’s non-verbal, but he has a happiness and joy within that radiates through his eyes, smile and laughter that speak volumes and just has a way of attracting people to him. 

And now, Tim is having a really good time wearing those Carolina Blue Nike Air Jordans and getting all this attention from people with a lot of bantering and laughing going on, and sharing the story over and over of how Tim got those shoes, especially from people who know Tim is a huge Duke fan! 

So, when we get off our exit off I-85 and I turned left to go toward home, there right in front of us was a huge rainbow!  And I asked Tim if he could see that rainbow and he said, “yeah!”

And I said, “wow Tim, this sure has been a special day with many blessings and God topped it off with a rainbow!”  And Tim agreed, because we surely had been blessed on Friday, July 13^th!